oping roofs. Many of them were great hunters and hunting stories abound in the town by word of mouth. Most of them left after independence. Tutu Imam topped the list of hunting legends in the town along with Prof Rajendra Pandey. A century back it was common for tigers and leopards to poach upon livestock in the outskirts of the town.
Hazaribagh Central Jail housed many leaders of the Indian freedom movement, including Dr. Rajendra Prasad, later the first president of India. The popular leader Jayaprakash Narayan was put under arrest in this jail during the Quit India Movement of 1942. His escape from this high security prison (with the help of 53 dhotis to cross the wall of jail) and the support he received from the local people is one of the legends of the Indian Independence movement.
During the early years of World War II an internment camp ("parole camp") for German civilians was in the town. In June 1942 it housed 36 women, 5 men and 16 children. 21 females with 13 children had been transferred on 25. February 1942 from Diyatalawa. In autumn they were transferred to the family camps at Purandhar or Satara.
Early Bengali settlers
A small but effective Bengali community settled at Hazaribagh in the nineteenth century when the area was in Bengal Presidency and the British administration was looking for people with English education. The small community Contributed considerably towards the development of the place.
Rai Bahadur Jadunath Mukhopadhay (Mukherjee) one of early settlers is much talked about. He was the first Government Pleader of Hazaribagh. He is always remembered for charity and also for the up liftment of the poor. His house in Hazaribagh Town played host to a galaxy of eminent persons including Sanjiv Chattopadhaya (of Palamau fame), Rabindranath Tagore and Subhas Chandra Bose. He established the Hazaribagh Brahmo Samaj, donating his own land
